


See First, Think Later, Then Test

by BrilliantlyHorrid



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Heart rate, Lance Hunter is a shipper, Romantic Theorizing, Skoulson RomFest 2k15
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-16
Updated: 2015-01-16
Packaged: 2018-03-07 19:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3180467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrilliantlyHorrid/pseuds/BrilliantlyHorrid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a mission, Lance Hunter notices a pattern with Skye's heart monitor. Curious, he sets out to prove a theory. It does not go smoothly. </p><p>For SkoulsonFest Day 4: Heart Rate, some Imagined Innuendo</p>
            </blockquote>





	See First, Think Later, Then Test

**Author's Note:**

> “But the reason I call myself by my childhood name is to remind myself that a scientist must also be absolutely like a child. If he sees a thing, he must say that he sees it, whether it was what he thought he was going to see or not. See first, think later, then test. But always see first. Otherwise you will only see what you were expecting.”  
> ― Douglas Adams

**Ask a Question**

"Are you okay?"

Director Coulson...well, he didn’t quite _storm_ into the infirmary, but his fast pace and slight shortness of breath were fairly clear indicators that he had rushed over. Skye and Hunter looked over, startled. Sitting next to the bed, Hunter gave a little wave.

“Hello there, Sir, what brings you here?” Simmons had asked Hunter to stay with Skye while she ran out to grab a couple items from the Playground’s supply closet (despite Skye’s insistence that it really,  _really_ wasn’t necessary,) so he had planted himself there to wait it out and make sure the girl didn't keel over or try to leave early. 

“I’m _fine_ ,” Skye told Coulson, sitting up more fully on the bed. “Simmons is just making me stay here until she’s certain I’m not going to pass out.”

“Again,” Hunter muttered, and she shot him a glare. Raising his hands in surrender, he leaned back in the chair. Coulson, still standing by the door, did not seem to be relaxing. _Poor guy_ , Hunter thought, pitying the director’s obviously frazzled state. He had been in DC attending a fundraiser, part of SHIELD’s Extension of Good Will project, schmoozing with Washington contacts and negotiating resources. The call for the mission came in as he was leaving, but Skye told him that they would be able to handle it.

“You said it would be fine,” Coulson said. Was Hunter imagining things or did he sound peeved?

“Yes, and it _was_. The mission was a success.”

 _Oh, she is most definitely peeved._ Crossing his arms, Hunter decided to stay quiet and observe. With any luck they would forget he was there so he could enjoy the show.

“Me getting a call in Washington that you collapsed in the middle of a shootout is not what I would call a success, Skye.”

“Okay, first of all,” Skye leaned forward, gripping the railing on the bed tightly. “It wasn’t a shootout, one guy pulled a gun and it was handled.”

“I handled it, actually,” Hunter interjected, then immediately backed down again. Glimpsing at Skye’s white knuckles, a flash of light on her wrist caught his eye. _Is that her heart monitor?_ He watched it curiously.

“Second, it was a controlled fall.” Coulson opened his mouth to object, but Skye held up a hand. He closed his mouth and waited. “I could feel it coming on, it happens sometimes when I do heavier lifting.”

 _That’s one way of putting it,_ Hunter thought. Her plan of preventing the enemy from escaping was to split the earth in front of them open like she was pulling apart bread dough. It was alarming, as well as _really_ cool. Yeah, he would admit that. Unfortunately between that and her earlier uses, it looked like her battery had drained a bit.

“This has happened before?” Coulson asked, looking calmer but with a distinct _look_ on his face. Distinctly _what_ , Lance wasn’t sure, but from the guilty look on Skye’s face it seemed she got the memo.

“A couple times, training, _not_ on the field. But Coulson, it’s taking more and more every time to bother me, I’ve got it covered.” The angry energy between them seemed to dissipate, but was replaced with a different, awkward energy. Looking between them, Hunter saw faces ranging between guilt, sadness, relief and _something_ , separate from the director’s previous _something_. As Lance was about to clear his throat (and the air,) Coulson spoke again.

“Please keep me informed of any...developments, with this,” he said quietly, and Skye’s eyes seemed to soften.

 _Gross_.

“I will,” she promised, and started to smile a bit. Rolling his eyes, Hunter caught another look at her hand, which had relaxed on the bar. Again, his eyes were drawn to her wrist.

_What the…?_

Coulson smiled back, then his eyes glanced at Hunter and he nodded curtly, shrugging his shoulders. “Good,” he turned to leave, but stopped before a full about-face. “I’m glad you’re okay.” Skye smiled and he returned it, before nodding at Hunter awkwardly and leaving the room.

But Lance wasn’t watching Coulson. His eyes were all over Skye’s heart monitor.

 _Strange, I assumed her heart rate went up because she got angry and riled up._ A curious smile began to grow on his face as he looked away from the monitor, before she noticed. _So why, I wonder, did the numbers explode when they started their little heart to heart?_

This was going to be interesting.

 

 

**Do Background Research**

Hunter was not the type of agent to take on extra work. In fact, he avoided additional responsibility whenever possible. _But this wasn’t work_ , he told himself. _It’s just a fun, low stakes little mission, just for me. Keeping things light._

Ever since the infirmary incident, Hunter decided he would just do a little recon, see what tended to increase Skye’s heart rate that significantly. Maybe she was just getting hit by adrenaline when things calmed down, maybe she was excited to no longer be yelling at her boss. _Maybe she was excited about her boss,_ he thought, pushing that away. Objective, that was the way he had to look at this.

He considered involving Bobbi in this, given her love of espionage (read: lying to people) and secret enjoyment of inter-team drama. He ended up deciding against it, to keep it as small as possible, but forgot that he for one happened to be absolute shit at lying to Bobbi, and she knew right away.

“You’re up to something,” she told him point blank, straightening herself up in the back of the SUV. Hunter gave her his most innocent face, but she snorted. “Yeah, okay. You think I don’t see you, skulking around the halls like a kid sneaking downstairs to catch the Easter bunny?” Grimacing at her weirdly specific and slightly creepy analogy, Hunter shook his head.

“It’s just some silly game I have, a bet of sorts. With myself.” He grabbed his shirt from the passenger seat it somehow landed in and pulled it over his head. Once he could see again, he was greeted by Bobbi’s raised eyebrows, and the locks clicking shut. She dangled the keys in front of him.

So he told Bobbi.

Unfortunately, Bobbi did not give a shit, and Lance didn’t know if it was because of her creepy side mission with Mack, but she almost seemed disappointed it wasn’t _more_ scandalous. “So what, you’re playing Cupid now? That’s weird.”

“Not Cupid,” he told her petulantly. “I’m _curious_ , I’m proving a point. Something weird is going on, and if no one else is going to acknowledge it, it’s going to be me.” Wishing him luck with his self-imposed ordeal, Bobbi unlocked the doors and stepped out of the SUV. When Hunter moved to follow, he was pushed back by a hand on his chest.

“Really? God, you are going to make the worst spy. Give it a minute.” She closed the door in his face.

***

As the week went on, Hunter wasn’t sure if his hypothesis was being proven or not. He asked, completely normally, to spar with Skye once, since he couldn’t get a good look at her monitor while she trained with May. It turned out more evenly matched than he thought, however, so he didn’t exactly have any leisure time to look at her wrist. The only moment he did was when Coulson happened to stop in to speak to May, while Skye embarrassingly (though not too embarrassing, Hunter admitted she was a formidable opponent,) had him on the floor, sitting on his lower back, holding his right arm behind him with her left. She supported herself with her right arm on the floor in front of him, so Hunter was able to catch a glimpse. _One good thing about this humiliating position, I suppose_.

However, while her heart rate was raised, they had both been working up a sweat and Coulson had been in the room for a couple minutes before he could check the number, so results were inconclusive. When their next mission came along, Hunter realized he was getting nowhere, so he had to take drastic measures.

“Hunter and Bobbi, you’ll keep guard by the south entrance, dressed as party goers. If he tries to bolt that way, bring him in. Skye, you’ll be covering the stairs, alert anyone if--”

“Actually Sir, I was thinking Skye and I could work together on this one.” Hunter said, to mixed reactions. Most looked at him like he was an insane person--no one more than Skye herself-- while Bobbi made the most incredulous and secondhand embarrassed face he’d ever seen. Director Coulson looked baffled, but to his credit, he schooled his features into something more professionally courteous. “What? Don’t you think it’s good to switch things up once in a while, work with different dynamics? Imbue _all_ of us with a sense of teamwork, not just the people who once exchanged abysmally composed marriage vows?”

“I have no problem with this, Sir,” Bobbi announced, and Hunter could kiss her.

_I’ve never been happier to have her give me up._

Coulson raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. “Skye?” This would have been an opportune time for Hunter to check Skye’s monitor, judging from the look on her face, but she was too far from him (c _losest to the director, shocker_ ,) to tell.

“I...yeah that’s fine.” Skye looked at Hunter, confused and suspicious, and he just smiled.

_Does she look frightened?_

***

The fault in this plan was that Coulson was not going to be with them at the time, so even if he saw her monitor (with a delicate chain now disguising it as a watch, clever girl,) he would not get any director interaction-based results. It was okay though, he had a plan.

 

“You look lovely.”

“Thanks.”

“Did Director Coulson like your outfit?”

“What?”

“I’m just curious, not sure if he gives input on these sorts of things.”

“Couldn’t tell you.”

“Hm.”

 

 

“...He’s wearing a tux, isn’t he? That’s new.”

“I guess?”

“Looks sort of James Bond-y today, for him.”

“Did I damage something in our match the other day?”

“Ha ha, joking about traumatic brain injuries, very funny.”

“I am being completely serious you are acting very weird and it’s concerning.”

 

So that didn’t quite work either. If her heart rate did go up, and he hadn’t bothered taking a look at that point, it would probably just be a result of her panic that she somehow damaged him irreparably and they’d be short a body.

***

It was the end of the week, right when he was feeling hopeless and ready to give up, that Hunter finally got a break. They had been out for a mission and, slightly battered and fully starving, and Coulson gave the okay for a team dinner at a nearby pub. The lights were dim and the crowd diverse, so the group didn’t stick out too much. They managed to get a large table and, not wanting to waste the opportunity, Hunter snagged the seat to Skye’s right. In addition to Skye’s confused but resigned face, he was also treated to a curious look from the Director himself, who was seated across from him.

“While we’re all here, I just want to say what a fantastic job Skye did on this mission today,” Hunter began. It wasn’t a complete lie, she had been fairly impressive getting them out of a jam with a nifty new trick she had been working on with her powers. However, coming from him, it was completely weird. “I think we should tell Skye how much we appreciate what she’s done for this team.” He raised his glass. “Director, why don’t you start?”

While everyone else digested what had just occurred, Hunter snuck a peek at Skye’s monitor. _Bingo_. He took a drink.

 

 

**Construct a Hypothesis**

_Hunter is up to something_ , Coulson thought, closing the door to his office. He didn’t know what, and he didn’t know why, but there was definitely something odd about the British man’s behavior of late. At first Phil wondered if he might be trying to make an effort with the team on a personal level. After the loss of Trip hit them hard, and he saw the full scope of Ward’s betrayal, maybe he thought it was time to open up and spend more time with them on an off-duty basis.

_Skye. Spend more time with Skye._

Phil did not have a problem with it. He didn’t hate it. He was disturbed by it, it was kind of off-putting. _Director Coulson_ was happy to have team camaraderie. It was helpful on missions to have a degree of attachment to your team, to care for their well-being ( _But not to the point of distraction,_ he reminded himself.) But Hunter’s sudden interest in gluing himself to Skye’s side was odd, and out of character. Coulson had noticed--as a director should-- that Skye and Hunter had a good dynamic. Healthy back and forth but not particularly close, friendly but detached enough due to the circumstances of Hunter’s tenuous arrangement with SHIELD. And the fact that he once shot her with an icer.

Hunter clearly had developed a fondness for Skye, who wouldn’t? He became a valuable teammate, and proved himself to be dependable on missions and as an open minded --if flippant--sounding board. But this was _weird_. This made him suspicious, and Coulson didn’t deal so great with being suspicious of a member of his team. Particularly if those members took a sudden liking to Skye. He grimaced. He was overthinking this. Lance Hunter did not have the capacity to be a sociopath. A narcissist? Sure. Oblivious and completely lacking self-awareness? Absolutely. But conniving traitor? Unlikely.

Bobbi and Mack had whatever secret project they were working on, so maybe Hunter was feeling neglected? Coulson heard a knock at his door. “Come in.”

Skye walked into the office, closed the door behind her and walked right up to his desk. “What is Hunter’s deal?”

 _Not just me then_. Coulson shrugged, sitting down and motioning for Skye to do the same. It was late, so he loosened his tie a bit. “Not a clue. Has he opened up to you at all? Maybe in the infirmary?” Skye shook her head, flopping into the chair across from him.

“Nope,” she rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, and Coulson pursed his lips.

 _She needs to get more sleep_. He wouldn’t hound her though. She looked better than she had in ages, less nervous, more comfortable in her own skin, and frankly everyone on the team could use more sleep at this point.

“Did you hit his head training?” Skye laughed, shaking her head.

“I considered that, he says it’s not the case.”

Realizing the possibilities were slowly narrowing down, Coulson felt himself begin to feel uncomfortable. Uncomfortable at the prospect of Hunter’s interest in Skye being more than friendly. _She doesn’t need that right now_ , he told himself, _her life has become complicated enough._

_Unless she doesn’t mind the complication._

Coulson tried to shrug casually, moving some papers into their respective files on his desk. “Maybe he’s interested.”

“In _what_?” Skye’s voice was incredulous, and Coulson bit back a smirk. He looked up with a kind, patient expression.

“In you, Skye.”

Skye’s face contorted in revulsion. “ _Are you kidding me_? Please don’t tell me you’re serious,” she said, and he held his hands up.

“It’s just a theory,” Coulson told her innocently, mood inexplicably improved. “Just trying to explore all the possibilities.” He got up to place the files in the cabinet across the room. Skye didn’t follow, but turned sideways in the chair.

“Yeah, well, that’s one possibility I’d prefer go unexplored, thank you very much.”

_That makes two of us._

“And you know he and Bobbi are totally getting it on, right?” Coulson grimaced. Oh, he knew. And he’d appreciate it if they kept it out of his vehicles. But while Hunter had all the subtlety of a rubber chicken, Bobbi was harder to catch.

“He does seem to get weirdly close lately,” she mused, and Coulson held out an open bag of Cracker Jacks he had grabbed from his stash. She reached in and grabbed a handful, and he sat back down at the desk, kicking his feet up. “Like, he’s like a guide dog sometimes, just constantly glued to my right.” She popped some of the snack in her mouth, and they both chewed thoughtfully.

“So, he’s always on your right?” Skye nodded.

 _Hm_.

***

The following day, Coulson decided to do a little observation. Maybe he was crazy for expecting different results (since yes, he had already been watching somewhat closely,) but now he had an idea what he was looking for. A strange idea, sure, but it was worth checking out.

Sure enough, where he found Skye he found Hunter, grabbing coffee in the kitchen post-workout. Skye was sitting at the table and waved, while Hunter sat on the counter. Upon noticing the director’s arrival Hunter immediately perked up.

“Good morning, Sir,” he said happily, hopping off of the counter. “Nice to see you on this brisk day.” Trying (and failing miserably) to look casual, Hunter migrated over to the table, next to an eye rolling Skye. She shot Coulson a look, but he pretended to be oblivious. Sure enough, Hunter moved to Skye’s right. “I told Skye she should go for a run, maybe you should join her. The two of you could use a nice workout,” he said.

 _And_ _there_. It was quick, but not quick enough.

 _He’s definitely looking at her heart monitor,_ Coulson confirmed. He had missed it before, but Phil was sure this had to be what he had been doing all along. In the infirmary, during training, on missions. But why was he so concerned about heart rates? _Is he worried Skye is losing control?_ The thought bothered him, but it made virtually no sense. Skye had a firm grasp on her abilities, and he wasn’t monitoring her anymore, but Coulson would know if she was having issues.

So why? Leaning against the counter with his coffee, Coulson looked over at Hunter. He was looking at the monitor, but also Skye’s face, and then--

_Me._

_He’s looking at me._

 

 

**Test Your Hypothesis by Doing an Experiment**

_Oh dear_. Hunter miscalculated. Severely miscalculated.

He was getting to the end of his “research,” but realized after talking to Bobbi that he had left out one crucial variable. “I’m not saying this is even remotely a possibility, because, well,” she eyed him critically. “But you’re sure that _you’re_ not setting her off, right?” Hunter shot her his most bewildered and horrified look, and she rolled her eyes. “It could be attraction, or, more likely, irritation, but every time you check her monitor for results you’re close to her, right?”

She had a point, and although there were times he would check it without Coulson present and not see results, the overall variation in numbers was too subtle to rule it out completely.

So he had to test. Just one final test to eliminate that possibility, then he was relatively certain he would be proven right.  _And then, where to go from there?_

Perhaps a mission was not the best opportunity to test that particular theory, he realized. The two of them had been hiding out in a cramped closet in a possible (now proven to be _definite_ ) Hydra warehouse when, what could he say? The opportunity presented itself. Skye was leaning her hand at eye-level against the adjacent wall, and her monitor was _right there._ If he could just get close enough…

“ _What are you doing?_ ” Skye whispered harshly, and Hunter tried to play it cool.

_This is weird._

“Just…” keeping one eye on her monitor and gently cupping her face, Hunter leaned in-- “OW, ouch! Why would you--”

“ _SHHH_!”

“ _Why would you do that?_ ” Whispering angrily, Hunter held his nose, which Skye had gripped painfully and forcefully turned away from her. She put a hand up, listening outside the door. Turning back to Hunter, she was livid.

“ _Are you kidding me right now?_ ” She demanded. “ _What the hell are you thinking?_ ” Opening his mouth, he stopped when Skye covered it with her hand. It took every ounce of willpower he had to ignore his built up instinct to look at the numbers glowing on her wrist. “I don’t know what your deal is lately, but now is not--”

In their ears, May’s voice radioed in.

“Hydra has left the building,” the words themselves should have been a relief, but the agent’s tone left Hunter uneasy. Skye removed her hand, clearly feeling the same. “But Coulson is down. We’re getting out of here.”

 

 

**Analyze Your Data and Draw a Conclusion**

Coulson came into consciousness slowly, hearing things that shouldn't have been so familiar, but had become commonplace. The even beeping of a heart monitor, the muffled sounds of the base around him, hushed voices somewhere in the room. Then after that came the sensations: the warmth of the bed, the stiffness of his neck, then, of course, the dulled pain of his injury. 

 _Someone shot me,_ he thought vaguely, realizing he should probably be more alarmed. He just wasn't quite there yet. 

Giving himself a couple of minutes-- _Or maybe it was hours_ \-- Phil finally opened his eyes slowly. 

The voice he had heard was Simmons, of course, dictating lab instructions to one of her interns before shooing him away. Still tired, he looked next to him. 

 _Skye_. She was slouched in the chair next to him, her eyes shut, sleeping. Her hand draped over the side of the bed, as if she had been worried someone would try to move it in her sleep. 

"Skye," he muttered, and her head shot up. In the corner, Simmons gave an audible sigh of relief. 

"Glad to see you awake, Sir," she said warmly. Her gaze drifted to Skye, and she smiled and pointed out the door. "I'll go inform Agent May that you're awake, but if you're tired please feel free to get some more sleep." She left, and Coulson turned to Skye, who looked shaken. 

"Hi," he said, ( _eloquent,_ ) and she whispered the greeting in return. "What happened?" It was a silly question, he knew, but the details were still fuzzy. But Skye just shook her head, not ready to talk about it. Her hands gripped one of his, shaking, but she turned her face away. Coulson felt his heart breaking, and even if Skye couldn't deal with him seeing her emotional state, he couldn't bear to just let her internalize it. "Hey," he whispered, and tugged gently at her hands. When she turned to face him, all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms, but with the injury he couldn't. Skye seemed to realize as well, because suddenly she was gripping his arms tightly in hers like a lifeline, the closest she could get to an embrace with him in this state.  _  
_

Skye tried to speak but no words were coming out, and it was clearly taking all the restraint she had to not have a breakdown. Feeling helpless, Phil just soothingly stroked the inside of her elbow with his thumb, whispering something that might have been, "It's okay." He wasn't sure though, he might not have been getting any words out either. They sat like that for a while, holding each other in the only way they could, when Coulson felt the cool metal that was pressing against his forearm. It was her heart monitor.

Reading the numbers, Phil sighed.

 

 

**Communicate Your Results**

Skye was avoiding him. Phil had been out of the medical wing and on the mend for about a week and it took him less than half that time to detect a noticeable lack of Skye in his presence. It was especially jarring given the amount of time she spent in the infirmary with him while he recovered, since she essentially would have to be forced to leave. Had he not been concerned for her well-being, Coulson would have been fine to let her stay, but as _Director_ he knew she needed sleep and to not let her routine get too disrupted by his state. The injuries had not been too serious, but the near miss made it scary. Coulson wasn't sure what bothered Skye more, seeing him injured or being faced with the concept that had things gone just slightly differently, he would be gone. That's what he was struggling with most. Physical injuries, he could deal with. But given his experience with death, and realization that he  _really_ wants to live, he was shaken.  _  
_

But now he was better. He could get out of bed, attend conference calls, and simply walk around the base.

Which he did. 

Often.

 _And yet I still don't manage to see Skye,_ he mused, coming up empty in the kitchen he had wandered into hopefully. He wasn't positive what brought on Skye's sudden disappearing act, but Coulson had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly what it was. 

Nearing the end of his bed rest, Coulson and Skye had been talking about low key topics; her training with May, Fitz and Mack's latest project, the way Simmons could be aggressive in a terrifyingly nice way, especially if she felt the patient wasn't getting enough rest. Skye had the sweet but frustrating habit of keeping things light all the time when she visited, and part of him appreciated it. Being stuck in a hospital bed constantly was depressing enough, sometimes it was nice to talk about something mundane or funny. But it gave him zero room to have a serious conversation with her. He wasn't even sure he wanted to do that, especially during that time, but he didn't even get the chance. Every time Coulson got what he assumed was a serious look on his face, Skye would become a deer in headlights, then launch into some story she had to have locked and loaded in case of emergency, because she had one every time. 

Finally, Coulson gave up. A natural break in the conversation turned up, and he took the opportunity. "Skye," he said softly, and her eyes widened a bit. before she could open her mouth, he pushed on. "I just want to say thank you, for being here and worrying about me." Skye's mouth became a thin line, and Coulson knew that was her 'holding back emotion' face. Skye wasn't the overly emotional type, and she had confessed a couple days before that she was all done being a "weepy mess," and that he didn't have to worry. He objected, of course, to that characterization of herself and her idea he'd be bothered by it, but eventually they let the topic drop. Gently he grabbed her hands, a softer, less desperate mirror of their previous embrace, and looked her in the eye. "I can't tell you how much it means to me that you're here."  _I literally can't,_ he thought ruefully, absently stroking the inside of her wrist. Skye took a deep breath at the contact, and that's when he screwed up.

He looked at the heart monitor. 

He looked, and she saw him look, then she did and together they watched the numbers climb and this horrible realization came over her face. 

"Skye--"

She stood up, mumbled something about meeting May and practically ran out of the room.

As he wandered around the base, Coulson came upon Hunter, of all people. He scowled (because injured directors of SHIELD don't have to pretend to be professional if they don't want to) and Hunter pointed innocently at his own face and mouthed out 'me?'

Turning back to head in the opposite direction, Coulson shouldn't have been surprised when Hunter easily caught up with him. It had been a futile attempt to escape, but it was the attempt that counted. 

"How are you feeling, Sir?" He asked, and Phil found a little satisfaction in realizing that his voice sounded hesitant. 

"Fantastic," Coulson said flatly, and saw Hunter wince.

"Yes, I worry that might be my fault," he admitted, sounding actually contrite. 

"Why would you say that?" Phil figured if the sarcasm was already at an 11, he might as well just keep it there. 

"My intentions were honest, promise. I was just trying to observe a phenomenon, find a pattern, really it was like a training exercise more than anything." Sensing that he was losing Coulson's patience fast, he continued. "If I thought it was going to do harm, I wouldn't have done anything and left well-alone."

"But you didn't leave well-enough alone," Coulson let out, stopping in his tracks. "You picked at it, and pried and you embarrassed her. And you embarrassed me, and I'm your boss so that's really not a great idea." His tone was about as scathing as Coulson got when directed at someone who wasn't a murderer, so it was a bit surprising when Hunter looked more confused than frightened.  _Have I lost my touch?_

"Sorry Sir, I truly am, but...why are you embarrassed?"

 _I guess he has a point._ Phil wasn't really sure where that came from, he just said it. Was that the reason for his sour mood, he was embarrassed? About what?

"Skye isn't speaking to me," he told Hunter simply, hoping he would take from that all he needed to know. Hunter looked at him like he was an idiot. 

"Yes," he said slowly, "she's not speaking to you because she's embarrassed. Because for whatever reason; you're old or injured at the moment or whatever, you rejected her."

_When did I do that?_

"When did I do that?" Phil froze, trying to figure out what had happened. Hunter was the idiot, why,  _how_ on earth would Coulson ever reject Skye? For anything? Did he reject his own feelings? Constantly, because he had a position to uphold and he would never act on feelings for a subordinate.  _That depends on what you consider acting on it,_ he supposed, recalling the numerous times he definitely acted in a less-than professional manner toward Skye. But if he entertained the thought she wanted him, would he still reject her?

Hunter sighed. "You knew about the heart monitor," he explained, losing patience himself. "She caught you looking at it, so clearly you knew before that about her...physiological issues around you." Coulson nodded, still not following. "You knew, and you didn't _do anything._ You gave her some pretty speech about her being there for you, and friendshp and how nice she is, and then you looked for a reaction." Phil winced, realizing that these words were clearly coming from a discussion Skye had with Hunter after the fact.

 _No wonder he's not afraid of me,_ Phil thought.  _He already got it from Skye._

"It's one thing when I do it, Sir, but you? That's just..." Hunter let out a breath slowly. As Coulson contemplated what all of this meant, Hunter awkwardly patted him on the shoulder. "She's on the Bus," he said, "I think. Maybe. I don't know, you didn't hear it from me." Coulson stared at the hand still resting on his shoulder pointedly.

"Could you--?"

Hunter removed his hand. "Right, sorry."

"Thanks."

***

Walking onto the Bus, Coulson headed to Skye's bunk. The Bus, when not in use, was nice and secluded, he could see why Skye wanted to go there. Even if it was to avoid him personally. Knocking on her bunk, he didn't receive an answer, but slowly opened the door anyway. Sure enough, Skye sat on her bed, staring at him passively. "Hi," he offered.

"Hi."

Coulson sighed, closing the door behind him and leaning against it. "I think we need to talk." Skye shook her head. 

"No, we really don't." 

"Skye--"

" _Coulson_. I just...don't, okay?" She looked defeated, which worried Phil more than anything. It boggled his mind, really, that he could ever be perceived as rejecting Skye. Just on a purely objective level, first of all,  _Look at us,_ he thought. Skye was... _Skye_. She was without a doubt one of the most exceptionally beautiful women he'd ever seen, and that was just the surface. It only got better from there. But he had spent so much time and effort pushing that down and away, it shouldn't have shocked him that would eventually look like rejection. He just never considered she would be disappointed by it. 

Sitting down on the bed next to her, he felt Skye stiffen up. Sighing, he turned to face her, gently pulled her hands into his again. Reluctantly she turned toward him, and he noticed the heart monitor was gone. Unsure of what he could possibly say, Phil searched her face. Then a familiar feeling rose in his throat, and his chest, and he didn't have a number to quantify it, so he simply lifted Skye's hand and pulled it toward him until her palm rested over his rapidly beating heart. 

Skye's mouth formed a little 'oh' and she curled her fingers into his shirt. Lifting her other hand on her own she brought it up to his neck, resting over the pulse there. "So," she said finally, clearing her throat. "I'm guessing this means the feeling is mutual." Phil nodded emphatically.

"Big time," he said, and she laughed. Not wanting to waste another second not kissing Skye, Phil leaned in and captured her mouth in his, practically sighing in relief at the contact. His tongue caressed hers, extracting a quiet moan, and then he pulled back, kissing her throat. Looking her in the eye, he pulled each of her wrists to his mouth and kissed the pulse points, one at a time. 

"Okay, you need to come here right now," she muttered, pulling him by the back of the neck until her mouth was back on his. In between kisses, Coulson spoke into her jawline. 

"I'm so glad you're not wearing that stupid thing anymore," he muttered lowly, and Skye shivered at the way his words tickled her neck. 

"Why's that?" Climbing into his lap, she considered her bare wrist while Coulson kissed her collar bone, then the tops of her breasts. "You don't like seeing the effect you have on me?" Coulson shook his head.

"This method is way better." 

 

 


End file.
